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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on March 6, 2005 6:45 PM. The previous post in this blog was You're not fooling this guy. The next post in this blog is Marqui time again. Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.

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Sunday, March 6, 2005

Who'll start the rain?

I try to blog about the weather only sparingly. But meteorologically, this has been the craziest winter I can ever remember spending in the Pacific Northwest. If you can call it a winter.

Our usual incessant rains have been a complete no-show; lately we've had strings of days of sunshine and temperature in the 60s. February was dry, and March isn't any wetter.

Of course, we love the beauty of it, and enjoy basking in the unaccustomed sunlight. Those of us who aren't passionate about skiing greet the clear, bright mornings with a smile.

But this summer is going to be a real mess. Even we denizens of Portland are going to have to cope with brown lawns, other water restrictions, dry fountains, and fire hazards in our parks and wild spaces. Our Bull Run reservoir system can do without a snowpack on Mount Hood from the depths of winter, but without spring rains, we're in trouble.

Given all the problems at the Portland Water Bureau in recent years, a curveball from Mother Nature isn't exactly what we need right now. But it's speeding its way in now.

UPDATE, 10:34 p.m.: A reader writes:

Who knows, my weather theory may soon be proven as correct?

My theory dating back to 1978 is that sub-ocean volcanic activity has been the cause of our so called El Ninio's (and split jet streams) and the source of that may soon be discovered by the NOAA research ship, that as I write is steaming to an area NW of Astoria. A field of hot water vents were discovered near here soon after St. Helens did her thing in 1980.

I have been noting links between earthquake activity in the Pacific Rim, splits in our Eastern Pacific Jet stream and watching changes in ocean temps on this NOAA site:

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/Northwest.shtml

To date all the scientific folks that I have asked about my theory have refused to give me an answer or give me an acknowledgment. Perhaps it's a bit more popular to blame it on air pollution causing the oceans to warm and thus cause the Splitting Jet Stream problem. But then, some may not want to panic the populace with only a theory.

However, I wouldn't choose to be on that NOAA ship if a large volcanic gas emission were to occur. What I hear is, bubbles won't float your boat.

Comments (6)

Maybe someone with a better memory than I can help, but I recall a serious drought in, I think, the summer of '74. I was in the hardware business at the time and all manner of water saving devices were selling like hotcakes. The governor (which one was it?) advised all homeowners to put a brick in their toilet tank to displace water and lawn irrigation was banned. Golfers revelled in it; those dried out fairways allowed your ball to roll a good fifty yards after touch-down. I think the drought broke in August. I remember that I was sleeping in my parents backyard when the rains returned... how sweet was the smell of that rain.

This weather has been making me think about my childhood, too, but the memories are different. As a native Portlander, I recall that my brother and I actually owned--and used pretty much every year--a wood Radio Flyer sled. To my unscientific mind this is a clue that climate change just might be real. Who would buy their their kid a sled in Portland these days? It would almost never get used.

I remember using our sled every year also. But I do remember that snow events were about once or twice a year and very short. Ice events have always been common. The biggest snow I remember was 63-64... until the one we had last winter, that is. My uncle and father, though, remembered major freezes back in the 1920's... they had pictures of model T Fords being driven across the frozen Columbia river.

Climate change can occur, but the issues are whether it is occurring right now (vs. is this just another of the occasional blips that last for a decade or two and then settle back to normal), and if climate change is occurring, how much of it is due to human activity. The short answer is we don't know. We don't have enough data, and we don't have other planets to experiment on.

The planet has been much colder before, and it has been much warmer. Likely, it will be much colder some time in the future, and at some other time, it will be much warmer. There is nothing particularly special about our current climate that requires us to preserve it all costs, other than the fact that we are a somewhat parochial people. We like certainty, and climate is revealing itself to be more uncertain than we like.

I like rain. The rain make me bland new. Am I strange???

Has anyone else wondered about the "swarm" of deep, Pacific ocean earthquakes along the Juan de Fuca ridge, a few hundred miles off the Washington coast, and the recent Mount St. Helens activity? Tectonic plate movement involving the Juan de Fuca, the Pacific and the North American plates, all seem to be moving toward that area.

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In Vino Veritas

Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007
Cameron, Chardonnay
B.R. Cohn, Cabernet, Silver Label 2006
Graffigna, Cabernet 2005
Palo Alto, Reserve Red 2008
Menguante, Garnacha 2008
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Felsina Berardenga, Vin Santo 1997
Anne Amie, Pinot Gris 2009
McKinley Springs, Bombing Ramge Red 2007
Vieux Papes Red
Dionysius Chardonnay 2009
Haden Fig, Pinot Noir 2009
Vega Montan, Mencia 2008
Chateau la Vernede, Coteaux du Languedoc 2007
Mount Defiance, Hellfire (White) 2008
Root: 1, Cabernet 2008
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Pinot Grigio 2009
Columbia Crest, Two Vines, Vineyard 10 White, 2008
Columbia Crest, Two Vines, Vineyard 10 Rose, 2007
Abacela, Grenache Rose 2009
Avia Cabernet 2004
Lemelson Pinot Noir, Thea's Selection 2007
Chateau de la Roulerie, Rose d'Anjou 2009
Casal Garcia, Vinho Verde Rose
La Ferme Julien, Rose 2008
Cana's Feast, Bricco Red, 2006
Hogue, Genesis Merlot, 2008
Owen Roe, Sharecropper's Cabernet, 2008
Kim Crawford, Unoaked Chardonnay 2008
J. Scott, Pinot Noir 2008
Edmunds St. John, White, Heart of Gold 2008
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2006
Stevenot, Cabernet, Sierra Foothills, "Stanford" 2000
Portuga, Vinho Rose 2009
Taylor Fladgate, First Estate Reserve Porto
Franciscan, Cabernet, Napa 2006
Chaparral de Vega Sindoa, Garnacha 2008
Quinta da Aveleda, Vinho Verde 2008
St. Francis, Chardonnay Sonoma 2008
E. Guigal, Cotes du Rhone Blanc, 2007
Edmunds St. John, Bone-Jolly, Gamay Noir 2008
St. Innocent, Pinot Noir 2006
Jigsaw, Pinot Noir 2007
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Merlot, Indian Wells 2007
Charles Shaw, Chardonnay 2008
Edmunds St. John, Bone-Jolly, Gamay Rosé 2009
Cameron, Willamette Valley Chardonnay
Il Valore, Sangiovese, Giovane, Puglia 2008
Duck Pond, Chardonnay, Wahluke Slope 2007
Kim Crawford, Marlborough Pinot Noir 2008
Domaine du Pesquier, Cotes du Rhone 2005
Cantina Zaccagnini, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2006
Domaine Matrot, Chardonnay, Bourgogne 2007
David Hill, Oregon Sparkling Wine, Brut
Chandler Reach, Monte Regalo 2006
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2008
Kirkland, Columbia Valley Merlot 2008
D'Aragon, Old Vine Garnacha 2008
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2005
Pavin & Riley, Merlot 2006
David Hill, Estate Pinot Noir, Barrel Select 2006
Castle Rock, Paso Robles Cabernet 2006
Magnificent, Cabernet, Steak House 2008
Conundrum 2008
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1998
Saint Cosme, Cotes-du-Rhone 2007
La Granja, Tempranillo 360, 2008
Santa Rita, Mendalla Real Cabernet 2006
Columbia Crest, Grand Estates Merlot 2006
Andezon, Cotes-du-Rhone 2007
Collegiata, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Troon, Druid's Fluid 2008
La Granja, Tempranillo 2008
Monte Antico, Toscana 2006
Vieux Papes, Blanc de Blancs

The Occasional Book

Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
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Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 26
At this date last year: 15
Total run in 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
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